The Paradox of Choice – Explained and Resolved!

August 26th, 2013 by Ran

OK, so on August 28th the Venice film festival begins and it runs through September 7th. Two days before it ends begins the Toronto film festival. Soooo many films, sooo little time. How can you choose what to see? Most people believe that the more choice we have the better and we all celebrate the abundance of choice as one of the greatest things in modern society, but facts and research suggest otherwise. Hear me out, let’s say you have two options. Usually you’ll have no problem making a choice, because the difference between them will be clear and you have less parameters to deal with when choosing. Now, let’s say you have five things to choose from. Now the differences between the options become less obvious, numerous parameters come into play and you might get confused. Your chance of being satisfied with your choice diminishes AND you are more likely to experience cognitive dissonance. Yeah psycholobabble!

So when looking at the selection those two fine festivals have to offer, it’s difficult not to be overwhelmed. But fear not, let the (self proclaimed) expert do the first sorting job for you. After that, you’ll have a much easier time deciding what to watch. So here are five films from Venice and five from Toronto that are definitely worth checking out (there are, of course, many more).

A tense Canadian drama-thriller about the twisted relationship of a man and his deceased lover’s family, who weren’t aware of his sexual orientation. This is Xavier Dolan’s fifth film, a promising young director who seems to have a unique cinematic voice.

5. The Unknown Known (2013)

It’s fitting that the first documentary to be in the Venice competition comes from master documentarian Errol Morris. Controversial and maligned former American Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld talks about his career, which ‘culminated’ in the 2003 Iraq invasion. This promises to be explosive.

Another controversial and maligned figure, but from the other side of the tracks, is the subject of this Biopic. Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch), founder of Wikileaks changed journalism forever, and this is his story. Even though director Bill Condon’s filmography is uneven, with the excellent Gods and Monsters alongside two Twilight Films and some mediocre TV movies, I’m hoping for the best.

Another film that comes to Toronto via another film festival, this one won the Jury prize in Cannes. Hirokazu Koreeda, who gave us the excellent Still Walking and Nobody Knows, comes back with another film concerning family relations. It’s about a man who learns one day that his son is not his biological son. Few directors can achieve the poignancy of Koreeda.